Our Back Yard System

[Deuem]

I hear my tomatoes calling me to add some posts or a cage right now. I just was out there and they are more then ready to get staked.

How are you draining the two book ends?

For myself I would run it just like the sun in your parts. Off at night. See how it works for you. But never turn off any air to the pesky gold fish.

If the pots take 15 to fill and the bed 30. What happens to the pots for the 15 minutes. Looks like they fill and drain almost twice to the main GB. So they will be getting twice the feed per day? If I had a timer I would change it up to 30 minutes on and 1-1/2 hour off. During the off time the beds should be draining and let the O2 to be sucked in. I have drowned too many plants. It was my number 1 problem. Our plants can go a long time without new water as long as the media is wet. I actually measure my plants when doing any testing, before and after.

[Nomad33fw]

I hear my tomatoes calling me to add some posts or a cage right now. I just was out there and they are more then ready to get staked.

How are you draining the two book ends?

For myself I would run it just like the sun in your parts. Off at night. See how it works for you. But never turn off any air to the pesky gold fish.

If the pots take 15 to fill and the bed 30. What happens to the pots for the 15 minutes. Looks like they fill and drain almost twice to the main GB. So they will be getting twice the feed per day? If I had a timer I would change it up to 30 minutes on and 1-1/2 hour off. During the off time the beds should be draining and let the O2 to be sucked in. I have drowned too many plants. It was my number 1 problem. Our plants can go a long time without new water as long as the media is wet. I actually measure my plants when doing any testing, before and after.

Started running just in daylight hours like you suggested, the airpump stays on 24/7 for the fish. The bookends have small 1/4" T-siphons that draing back into the fish tank independently. The main bed has a 1/2" T-siphon. To feed it all I have one pump that connects to a four way, each bed/pot has its own ball valve so I can control the flow to each indpendently. I played with it for hours to get each one set at the minimum flow for the siphons to start.

The valves let me turn each bed off once it's siphon starts making sure that the beds are empty at night. The siphons are all set to be about 2" below the top of the media, so the top pretty much stays dry.

Most of the design came from forums like this, YouTube, and a commercially sold one that goes for over $1.5k. I think I have about $500 in this one total, the media being the most expensive part. I'm working on putting a spreadsheet of costs and plans together for it since now half the neighborhood says they want one. I like to say that I have a Ph.D. in YouTube.


I will ill try and take some pictures of the plumbing but it's my weekend to work, ugh.

Incidently the only power tools used making the thing was an old black&decker battery powered circular saw, a drill/screwdriver and a staple gun. My workshop consists of a colasable bench in my garage.

[Deuem]

Ok, what is a t-siphon. got me on that one. Bells understand. AP needs to invent a siphon that is outside of the Gb. they take up an entire plant space. I guess we could always just use an electric valve on the drain. Leave it open till the fill starts again. The hardest thing to do is to get the timer setup so that it fills the bed and it drains and stops. Sounds like you got it working OK.
Did you see the water tower here for mineralizing the fish poo. Just a tube of water and air. I like it and might try it on my fish tank to pull out the solids. 2 meters tall. And I have just the right spot for it. Then all I would worry about is ammonia. Once in awhile pull out a glass full of water and check the color and order. If it is yellow and stinks, then too many fish for your load. Fire up the BBQ. Gold fish pee more then 2/3rd of their body weight every day. So I get about 2/3rd of a pound of it daily. Good for the plants, hard for water changes if the load is low. I feed them 4 times a day. Hoping I will get some giants. Yet one of them is staying so small I am afraid the snake head will lunch on him any day. He could take it down now with a bit of work. A big swallow. With 200+ minnows in the tank they have enough small prey to go after.


Do you have a lid or screen for the FT. Sometimes they jump out or get pulled out by a cat or raccoon. Even a large bird if they find you.